Credit: bas121/stock.adobe.comAs Global Law Firm Mergers Keep Coming, Will There Ever Be a New Swiss Verein?
Herbert Smith Freehills and Kramer Levin eschewed the model for their upcoming tie-up. So did A&O Shearman earlier this year. But several leaders whose firms embraced the structure say it has served them well.
December 12, 2024 at 03:56 PM
8 minute read
What You Need to Know
- Experts are mixed on whether more Big Law firms should consider combining using the vereins structure as opposed to other partnership or merger models.
- Some firms who have structured as a verein have succeeded in expanding globally but there doesn't appear to be a direct correlation between revenue and vereins.
- Some legal industry experts say there is the potential for a verein-structured firm to produce a fragmented culture.
The Swiss verein model for law firm combinations has benefited a handful of global firms looking to sustain growth and increase size and scale, but the fact that only a small number of firms have combined using the verein structure has experts wondering whether it is still a viable business strategy.
Large firms such as Dentons, DLA Piper and Baker McKenzie embraced the verein approach in the early part of the 21st century, using the model to place them in the upper echelons of the Am Law 100. Other recent transatlantic mergers, however, including the combination between Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling that created A&O Shearman and the merger between Herbert Smith Freehills and Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel to become HSF Kramer, have avoided the Swiss verein route, leading to questions over whether the model is losing luster.
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J. Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The suit, accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, was filed Dec. 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc. and Graco Minnesota. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, is 3:24-cv-11294, Graco Inc. et al v. Devco Corporation.
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Rebecca Maller-Stein and Kent A. Yalowitz of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer have entered their appearances for Hanaco Venture Capital and its executives, Lior Prosor and David Frankel, in a pending securities lawsuit. The action, filed on Dec. 24 in New York Southern District Court by Zell, Aron & Co. on behalf of Goldeneye Advisors, accuses the defendants of negligently and fraudulently managing the plaintiff's $1 million investment. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick, is 1:24-cv-09918, Goldeneye Advisors, LLC v. Hanaco Venture Capital, Ltd. et al.
Who Got The Work
Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Dec. 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, is 1:24-cv-09445, Gonzalez v. The Toronto-Dominion Bank et al.
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Crown Castle International, a Pennsylvania company providing shared communications infrastructure, has turned to Luke D. Wolf of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani to fend off a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 25 in Michigan Eastern District Court by Hooper Hathaway PC on behalf of The Town Residences LLC, accuses Crown Castle of failing to transfer approximately $30,000 in utility payments from T-Mobile in breach of a roof-top lease and assignment agreement. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan K. Declercq, is 2:24-cv-13131, The Town Residences LLC v. T-Mobile US, Inc. et al.
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Wilfred P. Coronato and Daniel M. Schwartz of McCarter & English have stepped in as defense counsel to Electrolux Home Products Inc. in a pending product liability lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 26 in New York Eastern District Court by Poulos Lopiccolo PC and Nagel Rice LLP on behalf of David Stern, alleges that the defendant's refrigerators’ drawers and shelving repeatedly break and fall apart within months after purchase. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, is 2:24-cv-08204, Stern v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc.
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